While urbanization and population are not overarching themes in “A Christmas Carol,” their presence in the story as a theme relate it to Dicken’s essay, Night Walks. Urbanization and population do exist as key themes in Night Walks as Dickens reflects on the restlessness of London and its juxtaposition with the quiet and lonely night life of houseless people. I found Night Walks to represent in part a non-fiction version of “A Christmas Carol” when considering the idea of putting yourself into the shoes of a less fortunate person. This seems to occur in Night Walks, just without the influence of a ghost from the main character’s past.
In the beginning of “A Christmas Carol” when we are first learning about Scrooge, two men looking for donations for the poor solicit Scrooge for money. As the men explain why they are in need of donations, Scrooge inquires about the social institutions that his taxes fund. With these social institutions still existing, prisons and union labor houses, Scrooge explains that this is enough charity for himself. Further, when the men point out the insufferable conditions of those institutions, Scrooge exclaims “If they would rather die,” said Scrooge, “they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population. Besides— excuse me— I don’t know that.” (Dickens, Kindle Locations 127-128). This exclamation leads us further into the values Scrooge holds especially as they relate to the poverty situation in London during this time period.
Night Walks provides us with a more interpretive representation of population in London that I thought was particularly expressed in one quote. “The wild moon and clouds were as restless as an evil conscience in a tumbled bed, and the very shadow of the immensity of London seemed to lie oppressively upon the river.” (Dickens). In this, Dickens portrays London with immensity and goes further to describe it as having an oppressive effect on nature, and in that sense, the people who live there. The feeling of immensity is not clearly described as being felt by the speaker, as they still describe their current scene as desolate.
I think the significance of population in these stories relates to the overall struggles with poverty that were prevalent in nineteenth century London. Scrooge sees these struggles as relating to one’s laziness or lack of skills while keeping a closed mind towards the possibility of one not having control over their economic or social position. I found the contrast between Scrooge in the beginning of “A Christmas Carol” and Dickens in Night Walks to be thought provoking because I began to think about how the differences in these characters could be identified in social and political figures and ideologies today.
Dickens certain deals more explicitly with social issues in some of his non-fiction essays, especially the other ones in which you see him actually visiting a workhouse or homes in which poor people live. “Night Walks” is an interesting essay because it shows Dickens wandering through London at night on a seemingly purposeless ramble. In this essay, don’t you think the city seems fairly UNpopulated? He certainly finds some problems as he wanders the city in the figure of “Houselessness”–he finds a few lurkers who he diagnoses with “Dry Rot.” Perhaps this is where the most compelling comparison to “A Christmas Carol” might be found. You can almost imagine hearing Scrooge diagnosing the poor and indolent with “Dry Rot”! Which of course begs the question, does Dickens seem critical of the lurkers and idlers he meets, or does he lay the blame elsewhere?